Photo taken at sunset -- CC welcomed of course

[Virtuosos]

My friend at Lake Arcadia...

I have some pink in one of those photo's, kinda strange effect probablly shouldnt be there though lol.

 

[tirediron]

1. This sort of effect can really add to an image, but in this case I think it's just too strong.

2. This one doesn't work at all IMO; you have a number of stalks of grass obscuring her right eye, the pose makes it look like she has no right arm and the horizon is badly tilted. I think this could have worked if you had shot much further camera right so that we could see her face, and if you'd removed the grass between her and the camera.

Just my $00.02 worth - your mileage may vary.

~John

 

[Virtuosos]

More like that? As far as the pink goes, its definately not an intended effect...I was simply shooting directly into sunlight behind her :/

 

[tirediron]

This one is much better, but I think the tall grass is too much of a distraction. Be aware of cropping limbs; if you must crop a limb, never do it at or near a joint (such as her ankle in this case).

 

[Virtuosos]

No cropping/editing has been done :s I've never photographed a person who's "posing" before, so the advice is very appreciated!
I shot this all in manual mode:
Shutter Speed:10/10000 second
Aperture:F/10.0
Focal Length:75 mm
ISO Speed:1250
White Balance: -2 Shade


There any suggestions on changing the settings up, or do they work?






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Here are 2 more, I noticed I cut her elbow off on of them...but I feel like both are decent. Any more advice?

 

[tirediron]

As far as settings go, there are no hard and fast rule; it's really whatever it takes to get you the result you want. Generally, I prefer to shoot with a fairly large aperature (small f#) to help soften the background focus and reduce distractions.

With respect to your latest two images. The top one is very nice. Exposure-wise, it's just a little too bright; you can see that you've lost some detail in her white shirt, BUT that's minor. I would level this image and crop much more tightly and clone out the orange float in the background. I think that will give you a really strong image. In the second, the hair lighting is wonderful, unfortunately, the face is under-exposed by probably two full stops. Fill-flash would have save this and given you a really nice shot. If you shot this in RAW, you can probably massage the exposure by quite a bit. If it's .jpg only, you can still improve it somewhat. I would take it back to the pixel room and see what you can do with the levels/curves adjustments and exposure controls.

 

[Virtuosos]

Thank you matey! Gives me a good clear idea of what to work on